Sherry Perry Under Arrest

On complaint of T.E. Brents, A United States special officer attached to the Indian service, William Wallace, United States commissioner for this city, Held George P. Perry, sheriff of Corson County, to await the action of federal court, his bond being placed at $1000, which he could not furnish and will therefore be sent to jail at Sioux Falls until federal court convenes. The charge against Perry is that of furnishing Indians on the Standing Rock Reservation with liquor, the specific charge being that on the night of November 26, 1909, Perry supplied Martin Red Bird and Frank Sees Bear with one pint of whiskey, one pint of gin, one pint of beer and five pints of other intoxicating liquor, the two men in question being Standing Rock Sioux Indians.
While the above is the charge made against Perry at this time, the government will bring other charges of a far more serious nature against Perry and some accomplices who are yet to be arrested.
According to the story told by Martin Red Bird, and sworn to by him, Perry in November 1909, came to Red Bird and Sees Bear on the Standing Rock reservation in Corson County, and pulling a gun told them they were under arrest for intoxication. He then informed the Indians, who were badly frightened that there was no judge at McIntosh, the county seat of Corson county, and they would have to be taken to Mobridge in Walworth County, where there was a judge, for trial. Accordingly the Indians were placed on board a train and taken to Mobridge, where they were lodged in jail. The next day they were taken before what purported to be a judge and a duly organized court, where a mock trial was held, and the "judge" imposed a fine of $300. Before the trial, Perry is alleged to have supplied the Indians with the quantity of liquor above mentioned, in order to render them intoxicated and therefore apt to be more easily impressed with the proceedings of the mock court.
The treatment appeared to be effective for, according to Red Bird's affidavit, they were assured by Perry that if they did not pay the fine imposed by the "Judge" they would be imprisoned in the county jail for twelve months.
Red Bird and Sees Bear thereupon wired a wealthy Indian named Agar on the reservation, urging him to send them the $300 at once. He did so, taking a mortgage on their livestock to secure the indebtedness, and the Indians turned the money over to the court, to pay the fine imposed. They also, it is alleged paid Perry, some over $53 for mileage and expenses in bringing them to Mobridge. The men were kept in jail for several days, while the deal was being carried through.
Major Belden, the Indian agent, finally heard of the treatment of the two men, who are full blooded Indians and wards of the government had received. The Indian bureau was notified and Mr. Brents, who was then on his way east from Seattle, was assigned to the case. He has been working on it for the past month. Yesterday, Perry getting wind of the imminence of his arrest, attempted to make his getaway by hiding in a box car on a Milwaukee train. Mr. Brents located his man however, and effected his arrest between McIntosh and Morristown. He brought his prisoner to Aberdeen, where he was turned over to United States Deputy Marshal Barney McVey, and was taken before Commissioner Wallace. It is expect Perry's accomplices will be in custody in a short time.
The instance in question, it is claimed, is not the only case of the grafting of the Standing Rock Indians by white men. It is charged that many others of the more ignorant members of the tribe have been bilked of more or less large amounts on similar trumped up charges, the whites taking advantages of their ignorance of the customs of the law to frighten them into disgorging all the ready money they could lay their hands on, in order to square themselves with the officers on some purely imaginary charge. The extent of the grafting, when the case is fully worked up, will it is believed prove the most startling that has ever occurred in the northwest.
Taken from Morristown World, September 23, 1910.